Wit, Humor, and Shakspeare: Twelve Essays

"Wit, Humor, and Shakspeare: Twelve Essays" by John Weiss is a set of writings from the late 1800s where the author thinks about what makes things funny, how wit works, and how these ideas show up in Shakespeare's plays. Weiss looks at why people laugh and how humor is a special part of being human, affecting how we get along with each other and what we think about ourselves. The essay "The Cause of Laughter" gets things started by questioning why we laugh, saying it comes from how our brains and societies are set up. Weiss talks about where laughter came from and how our bodies react to it, explaining that it's one of the things that makes humans different from animals. He uses stories and examples to explain how humor comes from the weird things that happen in life, relating it all back to Shakespeare, who was great at showing complicated human feelings and social situations in his plays.